


Goldenrods

by edna_blackadder



Category: Sarah Jane Adventures
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-22
Updated: 2013-12-22
Packaged: 2018-01-05 14:20:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1094954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edna_blackadder/pseuds/edna_blackadder
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the events of ‘Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith,’ Gita stops by for tea.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Goldenrods

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dbskyler](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dbskyler/gifts).



> I hope you like this, dear recipient. I read your letter and saw you liked episode tags and missing scenes, so I decided to run with that one. Thanks, as always, to my awesome beta, S.

‘Sarah?’ Gita asks, knocking loudly on the door to 13 Bannerman Road. ‘Sarah?’ She thinks she can just make out a muttered ‘Sarah Jane’ in response before Sarah opens the door, and why Sarah feels the need to say her name all the time is beyond Gita, but that’s not what she’s come over to investigate today. Secret Sarah, Woman of Mystery can keep her secrets all she likes when she and Rani and Clyde are happy about it, any tiny pangs it may cause Gita notwithstanding, but when she’s unravelling and forgetting Luke’s gone, and Rani’s coming home in tears, it’s time for an intervention.

‘Yes?’ Sarah Jane asks. She’s smiling at Gita, but she does look a bit tired. Her hair is untidy, as though she’s just had to drag herself off the sofa like a teenager on Saturday. Still, that’s a thousand times better than yesterday.

‘Just thought I’d pop round for a chat,’ Gita says cheerfully. She holds out a vase of flowers. ‘I brought you these. Goldenrods. In the language of flowers they represent encouragement and motivation.’

Sarah Jane smiles and accepts the goldenrods. ‘Thank you, Gita. They’re beautiful. Do come in. I’ll just go and put the kettle on.’

Gita crosses the threshold and immediately scans the room for signs of disorganisation. It looks surprisingly immaculate, as though Sarah’s put herself back together overnight. Either that or she’s completely lost it and is washing everything in the house now. Gita certainly knows how that goes, and she’s determined to put it right.

‘You’ll probably be wondering why I chose the goldenrods,’ Gita says, as Sarah Jane re-enters the room. ‘Well, I could hardly help noticing you’d not been yourself lately, and then Rani came home in a state. She’d somehow got it into her head that you’d gone away and not even told Luke. Of course I told her it was rubbish; Luke’s your son. But I did wonder if you might be feeling a bit fragile, without him around. I can only imagine what it’s like without him. I’m sure I’ll go off my head for a bit when Rani goes away.’ On any other day, Gita might keep talking, because there’s definitely more to that thought, but today, as Sarah flushes with embarrassment, Gita forces herself to pause.

‘Oh, Gita, I appreciate your concern, but it was nothing really,’ Sarah says hurriedly. ‘I was just…having an off day, I suppose.’

‘Maybe you ought to see a shrink,’ Gita suggests tentatively. ‘I’ve been thinking about it myself. I’ve had some awfully funny dreams lately. They’re all about a man in black and a flash of green light. I mean, the bloke’s handsome enough, but I miss the old ones where George Clooney stopped by. Or Anil Kapoor.’

At this, Sarah actually laughs, an unreadable expression on her face, as though she gets the joke in a way that Gita can't, which is quite odd as she's the one telling it. 'I think you're perfectly sane, Gita,' she says. ‘And you’re right, in a way. I don’t think a shrink would be much help to me, but I think I do need to talk to someone. I—’ She breaks off, and Gita can tell that there’s something on the tip of her tongue, something she wants to spill but just can’t, some big secret that she would probably tell Rani right off, were she the one visiting her. ‘Rani and Clyde are wonderful,’ she says suddenly. ‘Absolutely wonderful. But I do think I ought to spend a bit more time around adults.’

She’s chosen her words carefully, Gita knows. It’s not the whole story, but it’s as much as she’s going to get, for now, and it’s an opening, at least. She’s only been trying to be friends since they moved in, and now, it seems like she might get the chance. In any case, one thing she’s learned as a businesswoman is never to waste an opportunity.

‘Why don’t we make this a regular tea, then?’ she asks, and to her relief, Sarah smiles.

‘That would be lovely,’ she says, and there’s more than meets the eye—or the ear, rather—to that statement, too, and Gita smiles back.

‘Do you know, Rani may not go away at all?’ she asks abruptly. It’s something she’s been wanting to mention to Sarah for some time anyway, and now seems as good a time as any. ‘She’s been talking about Kingston University now. She says they’ve got an excellent journalism program and she could live at home. Do you know anything about it?’

For perhaps a nanosecond, Sarah looks like she might have been caught slightly off-guard by the abrupt change of subject, but she quickly rearranges her face back to neutrality. ‘I’ve known a few journalists who went to Kingston,’ she says, after a pause. ‘They’re all topnotch. I’m sure Rani would do very well there.’

‘Oh, I’ve no doubt she would do well,’ Gita says automatically, beaming with pride in her brilliant daughter. ‘It’s just that the funny thing is that before, she always wanted to go somewhere far away and see the world, and even if she did stay in London I wouldn’t have believed she’d want to stay at home.’

Gita pauses, and Sarah waits, and Gita can see it in her eyes, that overwhelming journalistic need for more information. For once, Gita finds it easy not to talk, when it’s so clear that for once, Sarah will do.

‘Why wouldn’t you have believed it?’ Sarah asks, a hint of trepidation in her voice, and Gita takes a second to enjoy her inner triumph before she continues.

‘I’ve noticed a change in Rani since we moved here,’ she begins. ‘Before we came to Bannerman Road, well of course I knew she loved us, but she was much more like a typical teenager, not likely to give her mum and dad big hugs all the time like she thought she’d never see us again. I don’t know what’s brought it on, but I’m certainly not complaining.’ Gita gives a little laugh, momentarily distracted by Sarah’s odd parade of expressions, running the gamut from a knowing smile to the beginnings of an inner panic to a what might have been a sigh of relief, had it only been given voice.

Just then, the kettle interrupts them, and Sarah dashes off to get it. ‘Haresh is worried,’ Gita confides, once she’s returned with two cups of tea in hand. ‘He thinks Rani wants to stay at home because of Clyde.’

‘Because of Clyde?’ Sarah repeats, surprised. ‘Why because of Clyde?

Gita grins and lowers her voice, even though no one is present to overhear them. ‘Don’t pretend you don’t know,’ she says coyly. ‘It’s Haresh’s worst nightmare. He’d much rather Rani fancied your Luke, but I secretly hope they do make a go of it. I’d just love to see the look on his face. But I must say, I don’t think that’s why Rani’s thinking of staying here. I think she wants to stay because of you, Sarah. And I don’t mean just because of all the help you could give her with her coursework.’

At that, Sarah abruptly sets down her teacup. ‘Oh, Gita, I’d never want to keep Rani from pursuing her dreams; you must understand that. If she wants to go away, she should go. She’s got to do what’s best for her. I wouldn’t want to stand in her way.’

‘You and your big secrets,’ Gita says, shaking her head, blithely ignoring Sarah’s impassioned speech. ‘You and Rani and Clyde, and whatever it is you do over here all day. Sometimes I get a bit jealous, but then Rani comes home and greets us with those big hugs like it’s her last day on Earth and I know that whatever it is, it’s something good, and I don’t say anything, and I know you probably can’t believe I’d ever not say anything, but it’s true.’

At this, Sarah Jane’s face breaks into a true smile, and her eyes even look a bit watery. ‘I—’ she starts, before cutting herself off. ‘Thank you, Gita.’

‘You’re welcome,’ Gita says. ‘Mind you, I would love some answers to some other questions, if only to get Haresh to quit going on about them. So many odd things happening! Life was never so interesting in Danemouth, I can tell you. Do you know, I’ve blacked out twice since we’ve moved in here, and that’s not counting the time that Martin Trueman took over everyone through the telly! I never used to black out. Come to think of it, both times when I came round I was standing in your drive! How strange is that?’

‘Very strange indeed,’ Sarah deadpans, and Gita laughs.

‘You should get on it,’ she says, beaming. ‘There must be a story in it somewhere.’

'Do you know, Gita, I think I will do,’ Sarah says, before standing up with purpose. ‘I think it may be just what I need. Thank you again for the goldenrods. Encouragement and motivation, you said? That was very thoughtful.'

Recognising a dismissal when she sees one, Gita stands up too. So she won't crack all of Sarah's mysteries today, but she's got somewhere, and with Sarah that counts for quite a bit. 'Right, I'll leave you to it, then,' she says. 'Same time next week, then?'

'I look forward to it,' Sarah says, and Gita smiles, victorious.


End file.
